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Something that is bugging me

This is kind of a weird post. You might not agree with what I say, but I think it needs to be said.

I've noticed in the last day that there have been a couple problems released by Brilliant staff members as a result of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. There is a good chance that it crashed, but no one knows for certain yet because nothing has been heard from any of the passengers through media such as Facebook or Twitter. There is also a good chance that a lot of people have died as a result of a crash. I think that we can all agree that we all feel pity for the victims and their families and friends. At any rate, this event is a tragedy. The fact that problems are being released because of the tragedy seems insensitive to me. It can be perceived that Brilliant is trying to take advantage of a tragic situation to continue to attract people to the site. There was a problem I solved yesterday about the most likely location of where the plane lost contact. I understood that while Brilliant may be raising awareness about what happened, but without a "The victims and their families have our thoughts and prayers" message, the problem could seem insensitive to the fact that 200+ people could have just died in a plane crash, the most since 2001. Making problems without expressing sympathy for those affected seems insensitive. If Brilliant was around for the plane crash in November 2001 that killed 265 people, I'm pretty sure the staff wouldn't have released problems talking about the properties of the number 265. I think this is a similar scenario.

I don't care what the response to this note is, but I think this is something that needs to be brought to attention.

Comments

We agree with you that the question appears insensitive. I've added a statement to the problem, to express our sympathies for the victims and their families. We are neither sharing it through the Best of accounts, nor are we posting it on Facebook, to "attract people to the site".

I created this question on the spur of the moment, as I heard about the news. I've since pulled the question from my feed. I apologize for any insensitivity on my part.

David's question on the airplane was created and released a few days ago, before this incident happened. It was an unfortunate coincidence.

I couldn't agree more with you Trevor! I've seen the problem from my timeline since yesterday but I chose to not answer it. I don't even click the link just to see it. My sincere sympathy for the victims and their families and friends.